Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Define difference maker and "taking over a game".
Sure a guy like Cale Makar can do that, but they are unicorns.
I'd be curious to see your list of dmen who "take over a game".
You've got a group of amazing offensvie dmen in the NHL: Hughes, Makar, Josi, Fox, Dahlin. I don't think anyone is pretending he's in a group like that.
To me he's in the group that would include the likes of Devon Toews, Gustav Forsling, Mortiz Seider, Morgan Rielly. Really strong two-way defenseman that can anchor your top pairing.
I don't disagree Bouwmeester is a good comparison. But Flames fans also underappreciated him because they were expecting a guy to be more way more offensive than he was ever going to be. But he was still an excellent dman.
The stats suggest he's a very good dman. Your counter arguments are framed in cliches.
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If you watch many Leaf games I wouldn't call Rielly a strong 2 way d man. Very good offensively but very soft in his own end much like Brodie.